No Rope and Storm on the Matterhorn
On September 7, 1879 The New York Times reported:
“Mr Moseley, unroped, was standing on a narrow ledge of rock, when, owing, in all probability, to a thin coating of ice which covered it, he slipped, and Mr Craven had the horror of seeing his companion whirling through the air for some thousands of feet, and then disappear, he believes at the base of the Matterhorn, and which also skirt its glacier.”
Dr. William Moseley from Boston, USA, only twenty-six years old arrived in Zermatt in early August 1879. He was together with his friend W. E. Cravern and two Oberland guides; Peter Rubi and Christian Inäbnit. They had together climbed more than twenty peaks and intended to add the Matterhorn to the list. Fourteen years had passed since the 1865 tragedy and no more victims had been claimed.
The party climbed strongly and Moseley felt so confident that he insisted on climbing parts of the route unroped but the guides persuaded him not to. At nine in the morning they reached the summit where they stayed for twenty minutes. Again on the descent Moseley wanted to climb without the rope and despite protests from the others he took the rope off. At the steep part above where the Solvay hut later was erected the accident happened. Moseley slipped and fell to his death.
Charles Gos writes in his Alpine Tragedy:
”Then he leaps. Unhappily his taking-off point gives way beneath him. He falls. Now Moseley can see tragedy loom before him in all its horror. Though out of vanity he had wanted to abandon the rope, he has no wish to die. Now he slides on his stomach, his hands trying to grapple with the rocks that fly very swiftly by. He succeeds only in tearing off the ends of his fingers. Nearly two thousand feet below, on the Fruggen Glacier, the last parabola ends.”
Moseley’s name is forever associated with the Matterhorn since the steep parts both below and above the Solvay Hut are named after him as the Lower and the Upper Moseley slabs. The Moseley name is also remembered by a donation made by his parents to the surgical chair at Harvard Medical School.
In 1886 climbing the Matterhorn had become quite a fashionable thing. On Saturday 14 August this year two Englishmen, John Davis and Frederic Charles Borckhardt, arrived at Zermatt. After seeing the beautiful pyramid they decided to climb it and started to make enquiries. Davis had some experience from the English hills and as late as the week before he had climbed the Titlis in Engadine. Borckhardt knew little of mountain climbing but was considered a hard walker.
At three o’clock on Thursday morning the sky was clear. Despite a hard wind three parties set out from the Hörnli hut. Davis and Borckhardt were led by Fridolin Kroning and Peter Aufdenblatten, two young Zermatt guides. At nine o’clock they arrive at the summit, not at all tired. The sky was grey and the view was a disappointment to them. Descending only a short section the weather suddenly changed. The air became bitterly cold and hail poured with violence. Everything became white. With difficulty they reached the place called The Roof (Dach in German) were they met another party. From there the conditions grew worse.
The party spent the night in a blinding snowstorm and the next morning Borckhardt was too weak to move. Thirty-eight hours after leaving the hut Davis and the two guides crossed its doorstep again. Poor Borckhardt lay dead high on the mountain at about where Moseley fell seven years earlier. The guides were criticized for not staying to help their client.
The following could be read on the first page of Evening Post, 6 November 1886:
One of the shortest wills was found in his pocket. He wrote in pencil on a small piece of card: “I am dying on Matterhorn. I leave all I possess to you, my dear sister. God bless you.”
“Mr Moseley, unroped, was standing on a narrow ledge of rock, when, owing, in all probability, to a thin coating of ice which covered it, he slipped, and Mr Craven had the horror of seeing his companion whirling through the air for some thousands of feet, and then disappear, he believes at the base of the Matterhorn, and which also skirt its glacier.”
Dr. William Moseley from Boston, USA, only twenty-six years old arrived in Zermatt in early August 1879. He was together with his friend W. E. Cravern and two Oberland guides; Peter Rubi and Christian Inäbnit. They had together climbed more than twenty peaks and intended to add the Matterhorn to the list. Fourteen years had passed since the 1865 tragedy and no more victims had been claimed.
The party climbed strongly and Moseley felt so confident that he insisted on climbing parts of the route unroped but the guides persuaded him not to. At nine in the morning they reached the summit where they stayed for twenty minutes. Again on the descent Moseley wanted to climb without the rope and despite protests from the others he took the rope off. At the steep part above where the Solvay hut later was erected the accident happened. Moseley slipped and fell to his death.
Charles Gos writes in his Alpine Tragedy:
”Then he leaps. Unhappily his taking-off point gives way beneath him. He falls. Now Moseley can see tragedy loom before him in all its horror. Though out of vanity he had wanted to abandon the rope, he has no wish to die. Now he slides on his stomach, his hands trying to grapple with the rocks that fly very swiftly by. He succeeds only in tearing off the ends of his fingers. Nearly two thousand feet below, on the Fruggen Glacier, the last parabola ends.”
Moseley’s name is forever associated with the Matterhorn since the steep parts both below and above the Solvay Hut are named after him as the Lower and the Upper Moseley slabs. The Moseley name is also remembered by a donation made by his parents to the surgical chair at Harvard Medical School.
In 1886 climbing the Matterhorn had become quite a fashionable thing. On Saturday 14 August this year two Englishmen, John Davis and Frederic Charles Borckhardt, arrived at Zermatt. After seeing the beautiful pyramid they decided to climb it and started to make enquiries. Davis had some experience from the English hills and as late as the week before he had climbed the Titlis in Engadine. Borckhardt knew little of mountain climbing but was considered a hard walker.
At three o’clock on Thursday morning the sky was clear. Despite a hard wind three parties set out from the Hörnli hut. Davis and Borckhardt were led by Fridolin Kroning and Peter Aufdenblatten, two young Zermatt guides. At nine o’clock they arrive at the summit, not at all tired. The sky was grey and the view was a disappointment to them. Descending only a short section the weather suddenly changed. The air became bitterly cold and hail poured with violence. Everything became white. With difficulty they reached the place called The Roof (Dach in German) were they met another party. From there the conditions grew worse.
The party spent the night in a blinding snowstorm and the next morning Borckhardt was too weak to move. Thirty-eight hours after leaving the hut Davis and the two guides crossed its doorstep again. Poor Borckhardt lay dead high on the mountain at about where Moseley fell seven years earlier. The guides were criticized for not staying to help their client.
The following could be read on the first page of Evening Post, 6 November 1886:
One of the shortest wills was found in his pocket. He wrote in pencil on a small piece of card: “I am dying on Matterhorn. I leave all I possess to you, my dear sister. God bless you.”